


Stolen Dance

by franticatlantic



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 06:53:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8655043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/franticatlantic/pseuds/franticatlantic
Summary: Since he was young, Tyler has only ever known ballet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is for [someone](http://vintagetyler.tumblr.com/post/153654819223/hey-so-i-love-your-fics-and-could-you-do-a-joshler) on tumblr who wanted a ballet au. i hope you like it!
> 
> title is from the song of the same name by milky chance.

The boy with the blue hair stretches with a hand on the barre, his leg held taught as he hooks his arm around his ankle and bends it near his temple. The instructor passes by, nods approvingly at the boy.

Tyler, sat on the other side of the room with Jenna, tilts his head. “Who’s the new guy?”

In the mirror, the boy’s almond eyes meet Tyler’s. Tyler doesn’t look away.

“Oh,” Jenna sighs, coming out of a stretch of her own. “That’s Josh.”

Josh looks away and stretches his other leg. He’s wearing gray tights underneath a black leotard. Tyler shoves off from the wall and goes to him.

He looks at the tattoos on Josh’s arm, colorful and seeming to dance as Josh moves. “They’ll let you dance with that?”

Josh nods, gaze moving from Tyler to his tattoo and back to Tyler. “Miss Jane told me it wouldn’t be a problem.”

When Tyler asked about getting a tattoo the board officials sent him a formal letter - to his house and everything - that said he would be terminated if he were to get a tattoo anywhere visible. He tilts his head and looks at himself and Josh side by side in the mirror. Josh is much bigger than he is, arms double the size of Tyler’s and his chest practically bulging out of his leotard.

“We should be partners,” Tyler tells him. “I’m Tyler.”

“Josh. I already have a partner.”

Tyler squints. “How? You just got here.”

“Miss Jane paired me with her.” Josh points to a girl across the room with long, wavy auburn hair. Debby.

Tyler purses his lips. “I think she’ll let you switch if I ask. If you want to.”

“I don’t mind either way.”

“Good.”

-

“Where did you dance before you came here?” Tyler leaps and Josh catches him, hands strong on Tyler’s waist.

Josh is the most considerate - or at least competent - partner Tyler’s ever had. He hasn’t dropped him once (not yet at least) and he always waits until Tyler is firmly back on his feet before releasing him.

“Balfour.”

“The torture place?” Tyler wanders away from Josh, stretches out a cramp in the instep of his foot.

Josh doesn’t say anything.

“I hear their instructors beat their dancers or something like that, to make them better and all.” He glances at Josh. “That’s not true, right?”

Josh glances at Tyler and the side of his mouth is pulled up, in a smile either wry or amused. “Do I look like I’ve been beaten? This is pure talent.”

Tyler laughs. “That’s what I thought.” He readies himself for another leap and Josh readies to catch him.

-

“We should grab a drink sometime.”

Tyler nods, collapses on the hard wood floor breathing heavily, his forehead prickling with sweat. “Yeah…to discuss…our new…routine.”

“No.” Josh plops down beside him. “Just to grab a drink. We shouldn’t talk about dance at all.”

“…at all?” Tyler can’t imagine a day going by without at least thinking about ballet. It’s a part of him now, ingrained by his parents and instructors over long years of rehearsal and practice and more rehearsal.

“At all.”

Tyler flips and looks at Josh’s damp hair, the sweat stains on his leotard. “Are you asking me out?”

“Can you blame me?” There’s a blush on Josh’s cheeks that has nothing to do with the routine they just rehearsed.

And Tyler has never been on a date before, has always been too busy to think about a relationship. But he’d like to think a date with Josh wouldn’t be all that bad, with Josh’s dark eyes and the colors in his hair and on his arm. So he nods. “Okay.”

“That doesn’t do much for my self esteem.” Tyler frowns in confusion. “I was hoping for a yes or a hell yes or a-“

“Yes,” Tyler sighs, loudly, and jiggles Josh’s knee. “I would love to go on a date with you.”

Josh grins.

They have their date at a bar around the corner from the studio, both of them still sweaty from earlier. Josh is wearing a T-shirt of a band Tyler’s never heard of before and Tyler’s in one of his usual button downs. They take a table at the back, both with a beer.

“So,” Tyler says without thinking, “I think for the new routine we should-“

“Ah.” Josh raises his beer to silence Tyler. “No dance, remember?”

With a nod Tyler takes a swig of his beer, bitter and not what he’s used to. Ballet and alcohol don’t mix, not least of all because it’s hard to dance with a beer gut. “You’ll have to remind me.”

“No problem.” Josh runs a finger around the damp edge of his beer bottle. “What do you like to do other than dance?”

“I read some, play games, hang out with my family. But dance is what I love the most. I know you probably think that’s crazy, since we spend half our lives at the studio, but dance is what I’m used to. It actually feels weird not being able to talk about it right now.”

“I don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want to get to know you past that.”

“No, no. It’s cool - I’m not uncomfortable. I’m just not used to other things. I guess I should start getting used to them, huh?”

Josh doesn’t say anything, just looks at Tyler with a sad smile.

“Anyway, what about you?”

“I like music, I cook a little, uh…but same as you, dance is what I spend most of my time on.”

Tyler holds a hand up. “Wait a minute, you can’t just bypass the cooking thing. What do you cook?”

“Anything, really.” Josh smiles brightly. “Sweets are my favorite.”

“You’re gonna cook for me sometime.”

“Oh, am I?”

Tyler hums an affirmative and swigs his beer.

Later that night Josh walks him home and Tyler doesn’t invite him inside. Josh leans in and brushes his lips against Tyler’s cheek, his hand high up on Tyler’s arm, and Tyler blushes.

“I’ll see you at rehearsal.”

“Yes.”

-

Jenna twists her ankle coming down from an assemblé and the noise she makes is inhuman, clutching her leg and huddled on the floor. She’s Tyler’s best friend, has been for years, so he struggles out of Josh’s hold and through the throng of other ballerinas and danseurs around her.

He falls to his knees beside her and takes in her outstretched leg, the way her ankle’s swelling under the baby pink straps of her slipper.

“Jen-“

Before he can pull her leg into his lap the way he wants, he’s being shoved out of the way, toward the front of the stage. Miss Jane is taking his place, crouched beside Jenna. “You _stupid_ girl. Who’s going to lead now?”

Jenna shakes her head, sobbing in fits and starts, shoulders shaking. Tyler’s being pulled to his feet by Josh. Miss Jane glances around. “Someone carry her backstage.” Her sharp green eyes land on Tyler. “You. Our new lead. You know her steps?”

Tyler almost chokes on his own tongue. “Yes, but-“

“Good. As soon as she’s off we go again with you in her place.”

Miss Jane goes to take her place back in the audience while two other male dancers carry Jenna off whimpering between them. Tyler watches after her and then follows Miss Jane halfway offstage. “Miss Jane, I would love the opportunity to take Jenna’s place, but I was wondering if Josh might be able to support me. I know that means Link would have to step down, but-“

“Yes, yes.” Miss Jane waves a bony, irritated hand. “Whatever you have to do to feel comfortable. Do it. But we’re running again now.”

Tyler hurries to Josh to tell him the (somewhat) good news and though Link grouses a bit about his new position in the back of the lineup, things go smoothly the rest of rehearsal. And Tyler can’t wait to get out and call his parents, who are going to be ecstatic.

This is what they’ve always wanted for him, a leading part in a dance. They’re going to be so proud.

-

“The doctors said it should be fully healed within the month. Not in time for the recital, obviously, but what’re you gonna do?” Jenna sighs good-naturedly and blows a lock of hair out of her face. She’s beautiful, backlit the way she is by the sun streaming through the window of the sitting room at her parents’ place, where she’s been staying since the injury. Her slender leg is pillowed on an ottoman, wrapped in thick, tan gauze.

Tyler thinks, not for the first time, that if he weren’t gay this is why he would have fallen in love with Jenna. Because of the way the light rings her hair and makes her eyes shine, the way she presses a single finger to her chin and rests it there. “Honestly I can’t wait for you to be back, Jen. This lead shit is hard work.”

“I’ve heard you’re doing pretty well.” Her icy blues flash to Josh, looking for confirmation.

Josh nods and shakes Tyler lightly with a hand on his shoulder. “He’s being modest. He’s doing extremely well.”

Tyler rolls his eyes. “I never said I wasn’t doing well. I said it was hard work.”

“I always knew you had it in you, Ty. To be a lead. You’re a better dancer than I am-“

“Ew, don’t say that.”

“But it’s true!” Jenna leans forward too fast and hisses. Both Tyler and Josh have their asses off the couch, offering to get her an icepack, her meds, a glass of water. She waves them off. “I’m good. Just a twinge…anyway, it’s true. You have such a gift, Tyler. If you didn’t dance that would be such a shame. Or if something happened to you, y’know? Like all those dancers whose careers were cut short because of injuries or something. Because you’re just so damn good at it.”

He blushes and rubs a hand at the back of his neck. “Stop, you’re-“

“She’s right,” Josh says, close to Tyler’s ear. “You’re so beautiful up there, Ty. I would know - I’m always the closest to you.”

Jenna stifles a laugh behind her hand. “And look - now you have the perfect boyfriend to top it all off. Living the dream, aren’t you?”

Tyler nods and smiles at the carpet because yeah. He really is living the dream.

-

Tyler comes out of his grand jeté perfectly and Josh is there behind him, cradling Tyler’s back against his chest as the accompaniment fades out. These last few weeks, ever since they lost Jenna, Miss Jane has been more high strung than ever and no one knows how she might react to any given performance.

She stands now and starts to clap, very slowly. She says, “If you dance like that opening night, you’ll have the entire house on their feet.”

Around him, his fellow dancers start to grin and gather round for notes, but Tyler is way too high to listen to much of anything Miss Jane says. Josh keeps kissing the back of his neck, trailing his fingers down Tyler’s arm, hooking his thumb into the edges of Tyler’s leotard and pulling playfully.

So when Miss Jane says, “Tyler, just watch how you land that assemblé in the third - your feet should be together when you come down. We don’t need you hurting yourself like Miss Black,” Tyler barely hears her.

What he hears is, “Overall, a great job tonight, everyone. Take tomorrow night off and rest up for the recital on Wednesday - you deserve it.”

Backstage, everyone mutters quietly and excitedly amongst themselves, a low buzz of elation at performing so well, especially during the second-to-last (the last now that Miss Jane has given them off the following night) rehearsal before the show.

Tyler steps into the backstage shower and neglects to lock the door behind him.

He’s shampooing his hair when he feels a strong chest against his back, a dry leg twisting around his wet one from behind. But he doesn’t flinch because he would know his partner anywhere, the solidness of his torso and pale hands that take him by the shoulders to spin him around.

“You’re gonna do so well, Ty. Gonna go so far.”

Josh’s hands card through his hair, gathering some of the sudsy shampoo, before one wraps around his cock and starts to jack slowly. Tyler clings to Josh for dear life, the warm water from the shower splattering over them as Josh keeps pumping his hand, brushes his soapy thumb over Tyler’s head.

When Tyler comes he almost falls, his arms around Josh’s shoulders the only thing keeping him from doing so. Josh is kissing him everywhere, hand still forcing itself down on Tyler’s deflating cock. Over the roar of the shower Tyler says, “I’m taking you with me, Josh.”

-

Tyler arrives at the theatre opening night with clear eyes and a full heart. Josh meets him there and they stretch together in the green room before getting dressed. Their costumes are blue and green, specked here and there with gold. Tyler’s - being the lead - is the most extravagant of all and comes complete with a green feathered headdress.

Josh kisses him in it just before they go on. “Break a leg out there, kid.”

The first half of the dance goes off without a hitch, cues hit on time and the only stumble Tyler can see being Link missing a plie as everyone gathers in a line to close the second act.

Then, as they fan out across the stage, Josh and Tyler on opposite sides from each other, the tempo of the music changes. This is Tyler’s favorite part, even though it’s the bit Jenna sprained her ankle at during rehearsal.

He can see Jenna now, sitting in the front row with his parents, her leg bandaged in front of her. She’s smiling encouragingly so Tyler flits to the rise he’s meant to leap off of. He gives a deep plie, sees his mom wipe a tear from her eye, and then jumps.

The crack echoes throughout the theatre like a gunshot, louder than the orchestra in the pit. Which stops playing as an excruciating, mind-numbing pain shoots up Tyler’s calf and he falls, thinking _this isn’t right I always land here we carry on and I dance because dancing is what I do_.

But instead of saying that, he screams instead. An earth-shattering, blood-curdling scream as he tries to cradle his leg up toward his chest, but he can’t even do that because it hurts so bad. It hurts so bad that he can’t breathe, people muttering in the crowd and Tyler’s family scrambling to get to him, it hurts so bad that he can’t see straight, can’t see Josh hurrying to him through the other dancers, past Miss Jane with fire in her eyes. It hurts so bad that his vision starts to gray at the edges and he passes out.

When he wakes in the hospital the lower half of his leg is bent at an awkward angle from the rest of it and he’s hooked to an IV that he rips out with a squirt of blood. People are yelling - Josh, his parents, Jenna, Miss Jane - and the doctors stuff him back into the bed.

They tell him he broke his leg in three places and that he won’t ever dance again.

-

Josh comes home from the studio every day and gives Tyler a kiss to his temple, throws his coat on the back of a chair and starts to make dinner while Tyler reads the paper.

There are articles in it about Josh that he cuts out and puts on the fridge like a proud parent framing some piece of art their Kindergartener made in class. Josh talks to him about all the new choreography, the dancers that come and go from the studio Josh owns.

He always tells Tyler he can come and teach a few days a week if he wants. “I think everyone would benefit with a few tips from you. You’re such a-“ there’s that mistake again “-you were such a talented dancer.”

Tyler hasn’t danced in twenty years. No one wants to be taught how to dance by a 40 year-old has-been. Not even a has-been; a could-have-been.

He thinks often about that dance, the one that was stolen from him. How it could have catapulted him to the heights of Anna Pavlova or even Darcey Bussell. His name could have been up in lights in front of every theatre in Ohio - TYLER JOSEPH DANCES IN SWAN LAKE, TONIGHT 8 PM.

There is hatred for himself every time he starts to limp again, his leg never having truly set right. Hatred when Josh reserves a seat for him at the theatre and he sees his husband bow with a rose clutched in his mouth at the end of every performance. That’s the worst.

Because Tyler shouldn’t begrudge Josh anything - he should be proud of his husband, of all that he’s accomplished, should be thankful for all Josh has given him. But in the back of his mind he knows that he could be standing where Josh stands after every show, up in lights with the audience on their feet for him. No, he could be even greater than Josh is now, they could have traveled all over the world together. Paris, Tokyo, Moscow.

Instead they’ve made a quiet life for themselves in the suburban sprawl of Columbus, the only place Tyler has ever known and ever will know.

And every night when they turn out the lights, after saying I love you to each other (which is still true despite Tyler’s naturally envious nature), he plays that dance behind his eyelids, the one that was stolen from him.

And every night he dances it perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> i have [tumblr](http://vintagetyler.tumblr.com/).


End file.
